Revisiting the difference between mixed methods and multimethods: Is it all in the name?

The literature on mixed methods and multimethods has burgeoned over the last 20 years, and researchers from a growing number and diversity of fields have progressively embraced these approaches. However, rapid growth in any movement inevitably gives rise to gaps or shortcomings, such as “identity crises” or divergent conceptual views. Although some authors draw a clear and sometimes opinionated distinction between mixed methods and multimethods, for others, they are synonymous. The concepts underlying both terms therefore have become blurred and generated much confusion. The aim of this article is to explore the origins of the confusion, describe our view of mixed methods and multimethod studies, and by doing so, help to clearly delineate the two concepts. The authors have presented their opinion of how these terms and concepts should be distinguished and call for a constructive debate of the issues involved in the mixed methods and multimethod literature. This is a way truly to propel the field forward.     

Real Earnings Management and Information Asymmetry in the Equity Market

The literature suggests that real earnings management (REM) activities can increase adverse selection risk in capital markets. Due to their opacity and the difficulties in understanding their implications, REM strategies may increase the level of information asymmetry among investors. This paper examines the association between earnings management through real activities manipulation and information asymmetry in the equity market. To estimate the level of adverse selection risk we use a comprehensive index of information asymmetry measures proposed by the market microstructure literature. For a sample of Spanish listed firms, we find that firms’ strategies of increasing earnings through REM are associated with higher information asymmetry in those firms that meet last year’s earnings. Our findings are consistent with the hypothesis that earnings management through real activities manipulation garbles the market, enhances private information production, and exacerbates information asymmetry in the stock market.     

Horizontal inequality and ethnic diversity in Brazil: patterns,trends, and their impacts on institutions

In this paper, we analyse the patterns and trends of horizontal inequality and ethnic diversity in Brazil in the past 30 years and their effect on the quality of the country’s institutions. Using data from the last four demographic censuses (1980, 1991, 2000, and 2010), we estimate numerous measures to analyse inequalities between different ‘ethnic’ groups. Our results show that, in Brazil between 1980 and 2010, the trend toward greater equality shown in other analyses of vertical inequality, is also found in terms of horizontal inequalities along racial, gender, and regional lines. Nevertheless, horizontal inequalities in terms of race and gender, in particular, remain pronounced. Ethnic diversity regarding race and religion has increased since 1980. Through our regression analysis, we note that both horizontal inequality and ethnic diversity negatively affect the institutional quality of Brazilian municipalities.     

Abuses of patent monopoly: A legal appraisal

The patent monopoly is abused when the economic and social objectives of the patent system are jeopardized by the behaviour of the patentee. The monopoly could be abused by: Insufficient disclosure of the invention; lack of use or inadequate use of the patented invention; and abusive practices in licensing agreements. The paper considers the legal remedies towards controlling abuses with especial emphasis on the compulsory licensing system. It shows that the compulsory licensing remedy has proved to be unsatisfactory and that a thorough re-examination of the subject, at the national and international levels, is called for, bearing in mind the needs of developing countries.     

Average and Marginal Returns to Upper Secondary Schooling in Indonesia

This paper estimates average and marginal returns to schooling in Indonesia using a semiparametric selection model. Identification of the model is given by geographic variation in access to upper secondary schools. We find that the return to upper secondary schooling varies widely across individuals: it can be as high as 50% per year of schooling for those very likely to enroll in upper secondary schooling, or as low as ?10% for those very unlikely to do so. Average returns for the student at the margin are substantial, but they are also well below those for the average student attending upper secondary schooling. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Economic beliefs and institutional politics: Human capital theory and the changing views of the World Bank about education (1950–1985)

One of the main characteristics of economic policy-making in the postwar period was the rise of international agencies and their influence in setting the agenda in various policy aspects. Education was one of the areas that became very important to the activity of international agencies. This article analyses the changing views about education of the World Bank, from the late forties to the mid-eighties, and the way its priorities and approach to education were moulded by the dissemination of human capital theory. The analysis will emphasise the difficulties faced to the diffusion of this approach in a context largely favourable and dominated by manpower planning and different policy views about education, providing an interesting example about the complexities of the dissemination of economic ideas within international organisations.     

Welfare Changes in the Cournot Setting with an Empirical Application to the Telecommunications Industry

I characterize the efficiency of the Cournot equilibrium and provide bounds for the loss in consumer surplus, producer surplus and welfare when the number of firms in the market changes. I only assume that demand is decreasing in price and costs increasing in the quantity produced as long as equilibrium exists. I show how price, demand and average cost, before and after the number of firms in the market changes, can be used to compute these bounds. I apply these bounds to the Portuguese wireline market and conclude that welfare increased significantly when the monopolist was split in 2007.